1To John Jay from Richard Peters, 25 November 1810 (Jay Papers)
When I sent you, as a Token of my constant Remembrance, my Melange about the Tunis Sheep, I intended to have written a Letter to accompany it. But it seems, that Nothing must go with a Pamphlet but the mere Direction, under the Pains & Penalties of sousing the Correspondent or Addressee of ^in^ all Costs of enormous Postage. It is really true, that, now for nearly 6 Years, I have abandoned...
2To John Jay from Richard Peters, 14 April 1811 (Jay Papers)
Since my Acknowledgment of the Reciept of your Letter I have perused it with Care & great Satisfaction. I see in it the strong Mind & clear Conception of my old & valued Friend, unaffected by any Decline which afflicts our mortal Frame. The Arguments on the Subject, independent of the Proof of the Fact happily known to you, are sufficient to convince candid Men. But alas! these do not compose...
3To John Jay from Richard Peters, 19 January 1815 (Jay Papers)
Your very welcome Letter of the 9 th . inst I have recieved, at the Moment I was contemplating sending to you our 3 d Vol. of Agricultural Memoirs, as a small Token of Remembrance. I shall, by the first Opportunity, have it conveyed to New York, with a Request that it may be forwarded. A few of us endeavour to keep this Subject alive, amidst the Din of Arms; which are ever hostile to the Arts...
4To John Jay from Richard Peters, 27 November 1815 (Jay Papers)
Your very acceptable Favour of the 20 th . I received on Saturday last, in the Midst of the Bustle of closing a very busy District Court. As soon as I was released, I went in Search of M rs . Bedford, as you seemed anxious that she should receive your Information, with Certainty. I found M rs . Bedford ; but it was not the one I sought for. She is the Widow of an old Friend who was Governor of...
5To John Jay from Richard Peters, 12 December 1818 (Jay Papers)
Although our correspondence is rare, my most sincere regards for you are uninterrupted. I have outlived, & so have you, so many old friends & contemporaries, that the very few left me are the more valuable for their scarcity. New acquaintances I make the most of; but old & valued friends delight me with solid enjoyments, more easily felt than described. And yet, in what is called society, a...
6To John Jay from Richard Peters, 25 November 1820 (Jay Papers)
Every occurrence in which you have shared, or originated, seems by some strange perversion to be misunderstood, or misstated, by the present generation, when some favorite individual, or topic, induces the obliquity. Although I give M r Adams his full share of merit in the affair of the Compte de Vergenne’s maneuvring with the british administration on the subject of our treaty of 1783; yet I...
7To John Jay from Richard Peters, 20 March 1821 (Jay Papers)
It is always to me a most gratifying cordial, & delightful antidote to the “ills that flesh is heir to” when I receive an affectionate remembrance from an old & highly valued friend. There are so few left of those we loved in “olden times”, that it seems as if, like other precious commodities, they become the more estimable, in proportion to their scarcity. When I wrote to you on the subject...
8To John Jay from Richard Peters, 21 February 1826 (Jay Papers)
I am recovering from a long spell of our fashionable Influenza which is leaving me debilitated; but not materially injured. Generally, thro’ a long pilgrimage, I have had no ^durable^ ill health or disease, chronic or temporary. So that it would be ingratitude to a kind providence, in me to complain. I often think of the few old friends left behind the multitudes who are gone to that...